Leaving the Nest

Elijah was a young emperor penguin. As with most young penguins, his parents set rules for him. Where he could go, what time he had to be home, with whom he could hangout. As with most young penguins reaching their teenage years, he resented all such rules.

As with most teenage penguins, Elijah had friends that his parents did not approve of. They were the ones who took unnecessary risks. Like taunting the polar bears, swimming with sharks and whales.

One of the rules given to all penguins, young and old, was to stay clear away from what they called the Bad Land. It was a sheet of ice showing signs that it would one day break away. This was the very area where the party was being held.

“You are not going to that party.”, his father said.

“You don’t have that control over me anymore. I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”

“As long as you live under my roof…”

“Then I will no longer live under your roof. I’m leaving the nest.”

With that, Elijah packed his bags and joined his friends at the Bad Land. There must have been 200 penguins at this party. The weight of all of these birds caused the ice to crack. Half of them took to running as the ice started to float away. The rest continued to party. Elijah was still with them.

After several hours they were still jamming. The music was pounding. The Penguins were dancing. They were eating their fill of fish. About 2 in the morning, they were all tired out. One by one they all fell asleep. The ice they were on continued to float away. No one had realized exactly how far they had drifted. When they woke, at nearly 12 noon, home was nowhere in sight.

A few of them started to panic. They jumped into the water and started swimming in different directions. Neither of them returned. The rest of them did the only thing they could. Continue the party. Elijah was having the time of his life. He wanted this to last forever. As it continued another day, he thought that it would. But there was a problem. A big one.

Nobody realized that they had drifted into warmer climates. Their ice boat was starting to melt. Only a little at first, but a little is all that was needed to move this crowd into a smaller circle. This didn’t bother them at first, but as it continued to melt, some of them started to fall off the edge.

“Wow!”, said Henery, one of Elijah’s friends. “We’ve lost another 25.”

This became a game to them. Who could stay on the ice the longest? Another game was being played at the same time. A group of whales wanted to see how many penguins can they knock off the ice.

Little by little, the ice would melt, and the whales would grab them.

“We lost another 25.”

At this point there were only 30 penguins left. They continued to drift, and the ice was melting more and more, faster and faster. They were falling off the ice one after another. When there were only 5 left, Elijah started to worry. Would he ever make it back home? Would he ever see his family again? What happened to his friends?

Splash!

There were only 4 left.

Splash!

“Why didn’t I listen to my parents?”

Splash!

“They only wanted what was best for me.”

Splash!

“And now I’m all alone.”

The block of ice was barely large enough for him to take 2 steps in any direction. It was still shrinking.

Splash!

There he was. In the water all by himself. He was hundreds of miles away from home. All he could do was to start swimming.